UNION PRINTING IN HOUSTON

Union printing is the center of this business, not a side line. Carroll Printing & Promotions is a union shop, so print work produced here can carry the Allied Printing Trades Council label when the job calls for it. The people ordering the work do not have to wonder whether somebody down the supply chain broke the requirement.

This page explains what union printing is, who needs it, what we produce for union buyers and how to order a job that meets the rule. If your work is for a candidate or a committee, our union and political printing page covers campaign materials and direct mail in more depth.

What Union Printing Means

At a union printer, the people setting up, running and finishing each job belong to a union, and their wages, benefits and working standards are written into a contract with the shop. The term describes how the job is staffed and produced. It says nothing about the brand of press or the paper stock. Two shops can run the same equipment, and only one of them can deliver union work.

Buyers ask for union printing for three practical reasons:

• The rules require it: bylaws, collective bargaining agreements and committee policies often say printed work has to come from a union shop. The printer meets that requirement or the job moves.
• The money comes from members: when a local spends dues on print, keeping that spend with union workers keeps it inside the same economy its members work in, and supports fair wages across the printing industry.
• The reader checks: union households and members look for the label on what lands in their mailbox, and they notice when it is missing.

For a closer look at the mark itself, including what goes wrong when a piece ships without it, read our guide to the union bug and what it means on your print job.

The Union Label We Print: Allied Printing Trades Council, Houston

The mark shown at the top of this page is the Allied Printing Trades Council label for Houston, Texas, council number 11, exactly as it prints on our own work. Printers call it the bug. It is small on purpose and normally sits along an edge, in a footer or near a fold.

• The shop places it, not the designer: the label goes on work that we produce under the union’s terms. It is not a piece of clip art to drop into a file before it reaches us.
• Size and position are settled at proof: if your committee has rules about where the label sits, tell us when you order so the layout allows for it from the start.
• If you need a different label, ask first: some organizations name a specific label in their rules. Tell us at the quote stage and we will confirm what can appear on your job before anything is printed.

Who Uses a Union Print Shop

Union printing is not only for unions. These are the buyers we work with most:

• Labor unions and locals: member communications, meeting and election notices, event and convention materials, organizing literature and the letterhead and envelopes that carry an officer’s signature.
• Labor councils and federations: shared materials for affiliated locals, banners for rallies and Labor Day events, and printed programs for dinners and conventions.
• Political campaigns and committees: candidates and committees seeking labor support, who need yard signs, push cards and mailers that carry the label. See campaign printing from a union shop.
• Union contractors and employers: signatory contractors who want job site signage, decals and safety awareness materials produced by union labor, along with branded crew apparel.
• Allied nonprofits and advocacy groups: organizations that work alongside labor and hold their vendors to the same standard.

Union Printing Services We Offer

A union job rarely stops at one item. A convention needs programs, signs and shirts. A campaign needs yard signs, push cards and mail. Producing all of it in one union shop means every piece meets the same requirement and arrives on the same schedule. It also gives you one shop to hold to one quality standard.

• Commercial printing: four color process and digital printing for the everyday paper a local runs on, from brochures, booklets and flyers to postcards, posters, bumper stickers, letterhead, envelopes and business cards. See commercial printing.
• Direct mail: mailers, push cards, member notices and contribution and reply envelopes, planned around your list and the date the piece has to land.
• Signs, banners and decals: rally signs, yard signs, wall and pop up banners, hall signage and vinyl decals. See decals, banners and signs.
• Apparel and promotional products: screen printed and embroidered t-shirts, caps and jackets, plus pins, pens, buttons and giveaways. See apparel and promotional products.
• Logo and design: our artists can turn a rough idea or a sketch into finished, print ready art for a local, a council or an event. See logo design.
• Safety awareness programs: job site signs, decals and posters for union contractors and industrial crews. See occupational safety.

Union Made Apparel and Promotional Items

Shirts for a rally, caps for a members’ picnic and jackets for a stewards’ training all carry the local’s name in public, so they get noticed. There are two separate questions with any apparel order, and buyers often run them together:

• Who decorated it: the screen printing or embroidery on the garment.
• Who made the garment: the blank shirt, cap or jacket before it was decorated.

If your organization needs the garment itself to be union made, say so when you request a quote. We have relationships with a select group of American and union made apparel suppliers, and we will match the blank to the requirement rather than assume. Our embroidery and application choices page explains the decoration options.

How to Order a Union Print Job

Most problems with union work come from finding out about the requirement late. This order of steps avoids that:

1. Tell us the requirement first: which label or wording your rules call for, and where it has to appear.
2. Send your artwork, or a sketch: check our artwork guidelines for file formats, or let our artists build the piece from your idea.
3. Approve the proof with the label in place: this is the moment to confirm the bug is on the piece, in the right position, at the right size.
4. We produce the job: it is printed in our Houston shop and ready for pickup or delivery on the schedule we agreed at the quote.

Typical turnaround times and order minimums are listed on our printing FAQ. If your date is tight, call us before you send files and we will tell you plainly what is possible.

Union Printing in Houston, Along the Gulf Coast and Nationwide

We are at 2907 Canal St. in Houston, just east of downtown. We serve Greater Houston and the Gulf Coast directly, and we produce union printing, campaign materials and direct mail for labor organizations and campaigns across the country.

Distance matters less than the requirement. A general online print site can sell a cheap yard sign, but it is not a union shop, so it cannot put a union label on the job. When the label is part of the order, the printer has to be a union printer, and Carroll Printing & Promotions has been one for longer than any other shop on the Gulf Coast.

Union Printing FAQs

Request a Quote for Union Printing

Tell us what you need printed, the quantity, the label requirement and the date it has to be in hand. We will come back with pricing and a schedule.

Or call 713-228-9331